Integrating spirituality with practice and social justice: The challenge for social work

We know that people come to spirituality or faith differently and develop different ways of spiritual understanding and faith, something that is true of clients but also of social work practitioners. At the same time, we are not always willing to publicly discuss these issues. One reason is that when spirituality is discussed, people fear its meaning can be lost. However, this is an important issue for social workers, as clients often want to talk about their spirituality and want social workers to acknowledge it. This article attempts to broaden the discussion on spirituality by emphasizing aspects of human nature with the integrative nature of spirituality. It also seeks to highlight the link between spirituality and social justice and to call on social workers’ sense of social justice so it can be incorporated into practice.